Saturday, August 5, 2017

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


MIND-BOGGLING!  Do you ever see something or hear something … or experience something that leaves you speechless?  You have no words to try to describe what you saw or heard or felt.  I guess that is why there is the word “indescribable”, right?  That’s pretty much where I am at when I am in the presence of God – or where I am when I recognize Him at work right in the moment.  Oh no, I am not in a fog or a stupor, nor am I walking around dazed.  I am fully aware of His closeness, and I am totally there with Him - even when I do not understand everything about what He is doing.  There is nothing like how our God comes to us, reveals Himself to us, works on us and in us.  We just know.  Can we explain it?  No, not adequately.  Ever.  Our vocabulary fails us.  The words we do have, escape us.  It all comes down to a language of the soul that is understood clearly without even having to speak a word.  Not even one!  God reads us.  He knows us.  He created us, after all.  What’s not to understand … on HIS part?  It is us humans whose minds are boggled ~ but most often, in a manner that we do not mind at all!  We are left with the sense that we are loved beyond description.  We cannot help but believe that we’ve been kissed with the tantalizing touches of Eternity.  In what feels like fleeting encounters here on this earth, we are given a flash foretaste of what living in the presence of our Lord God for eternity is going to be like … and our minds are “boggled”.  It is hard to fathom and our minds keep going and going, stretching until they snap back to reality, and we are left with what feels like the words of that incredible song about being in Heaven:  “I Can Only Imagine!”

I will never forget having experienced a taste of the greatness of our God and how much He must love us, when for the first time I viewed a video put together by a group of people who discovered how to “mix” the sounds of creation singing together in unison, as if praising their Creator.  It was so amazing it nearly took my breath away and it brought tears of joy to my eyes!  Yes, I was speechless!  I must search out this video again and share it with as many as I can … it is delightful, powerful, and it speaks to the majesty of our God!  All He created for our pleasure on this earth, turns around and offers pleasure and praise back to Him who is the Creator of all things living!  What I remember is that these individuals filmed the sights and recorded the sounds of one living thing, like the sights and sounds of the lilting, melodic song of a bird deep in the forest; and then on top of that track, they added the sights and sounds of the enchanting call of the great whales swimming on the expanse of crashing ocean waves.  Layer upon layer, they added the sounds of creation to include the sounds of pouring rainfall in the jungles and the sounds of waterfalls reverberating off the rocks they spilled over.  The roar of the lions and the soft cooing of the mourning doves filled yet more tracks.  And in exquisite orchestration, the crowning glory of the sights and sounds of the stars and planets in the highest reaches of the vast skies above was captured - and they brought their one-of-a-kind music to the heavenly song!  I know I do not have total accuracy of each recorded thing from my memory … but you get the idea!  And when each part of creation came together synchronized in sound, a magnificent, majestic concert erupted in praise to their Creator!  And I was enraptured to have been gifted with the experience of hearing such sounds that I had never before heard when arranged in unison for our ears.  Then I realized that what I heard through the amazing arrangement of some gifted people – is what our Creator hears all the time.  He sees everything at once and He hears everything at once, because He is not limited like I am.  I see and hear one or a few things at a time, beautiful songs as are sung by creation.  But God drinks it in all at once and His heart is filled with delight at His creation!  And for us, though we, too, are blessed beyond words to get to drink in the beauty of His creation as much as is humanly possible … greater yet, is our privilege as part of His hand-formed creation, to join in and lift our voices with unending praise to the One who gave us life and who loves us more than we will ever comprehend! 

May God’s gift of Eternity echo in our hearts each moment of each day, so that when we look at others, we see them as He sees them!  Let me tell you, often that is a much different sight than what we thought we saw at our first, brief glance.  And may we hear others with God’s heart and ears, genuinely and discerning enough to make the difference for them that God calls us to.  My heart’s cry is that as God’s people, we will first of all realize the “mind-boggling” love that our Lord has for each of us!  We must believe that and receive that first, before we can help anyone else.  When we get in tune with God’s ways and His plans for us … then our voices will naturally fill in notes of praise!  And our distinctive melodies will enrich the “Creation Song” that rises daily before our Creator!  Who says you cannot sing or carry a tune?  You are God’s beloved, chosen, rescued, and redeemed!  Transformed, we will stand together and sing our praises daily in unison with all of God’s creation as it echoes throughout the earth and ascends into Heavenly places!   He is there listening … and ready to receive our passionate praise!

REMEMBER . . .

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” ~ Psalm 96:1
“I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” ~ Psalm 104:33  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

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